Terrifier 2 was given a limited theatrical release over the Halloween season and became an unexpected box office hit. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to see it in theaters. Thanks to Halloween Hangover, I get to play catch-up.
Of course, I had heard all about the reports of theater patrons fainting and puking in the aisles, which is always a good sign. I’m glad to say the gore is easily the best thing about the movie. The gore alone isn’t quite enough to salvage the film, however. Even though Terrifier 2 has some unexpected moments and weirdly veers off into uncharted territory for a slasher, its crippling overlength prevents it from really cooking.
Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton) is out to slaughter more unsuspecting victims on Halloween. A potentially disturbed kid named Jonathan (Elliott Fullam) sees him, but naturally no one believes him. His sister, Sienna (Lauren LaVera) just may be the only one with the power to stop Art’s reign of terror.
Let’s get this out of the way first: There was no reason for this to be 138 minutes. Too many scenes just go on for way too long. Writer/director Damien Leone (who also made the first movie) was probably so enamored with the individual scenes that he didn’t want to lose anything. I’m sure taken on their own accord, these scenes worked as their own self-contained vignettes. However, once they were all strung together, it should’ve been apparent that not everything should’ve been kept in the final cut. At all times, it feels like you’re watching an assembly cut of all the footage that was shot. I’m sure the editor could’ve easily snipped a minute here and a minute there in the name of expediency.
Slashers work best with a ninety minute runtime (or shorter). Anything over that, I feel the director has to justify the excess running time. At one point, I hit the “DISPLAY” button on my remote, fully expecting there’d be only ten more minutes left. Much to my shock, there was still a half hour to go.
That’s because Leone has something… different up his sleeve. I won’t spoil what it is. All I’ll say is that you either go with it or you don’t.
I didn’t.
Fortunately, Leone’s overindulgences extend over into the gore scenes, which are some of the most over the top blood and gut sequences I’ve seen outside of a Troma film. Grisly murder set pieces include a decapitation, skull crushing, and dick trauma. One particularly ghoulish scene involves Art slashing a woman’s eyeball, scalping her, and tearing off one of her limbs. Then it gets REAL nasty. Scenes like this make Herschell Gordon Lewis look like Walt Disney in comparison. If only Leone had been a bit more judicious with the editing, this might’ve been a minor classic.
Thornton is excellent as Art. He could’ve been a silent movie actor as he milks the mime routine for all its worth. Thornton’s performance is the reason Art is about the closest thing we have to another Freddy or Jason these days. I can’t wait to see him in another installment soon. I just hope the next one will be a bit more streamlined than this one.
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